June in the Garden

Summer is in full bloom, and June brings with it long, golden days filled with birdsong, butterflies, and blooming borders. It's the perfect time to slow down, savor the season, and invite a few winged guests into your garden.

June is peak season in the garden, but it’s also a critical time to talk about pollinators. 

Pollinators are responsible for about one-third of the food we eat. Without them, crops like apples, tomatoes, squash, berries, and almonds wouldn’t grow. They’re also essential for wildflowers, native plants, and healthy ecosystems. But many pollinator populations—especially native bees and monarch butterflies—are experiencing steep and steady declines.

The causes are complex but interconnected: habitat loss from urban development and agriculture, the widespread use of pesticides, invasive species, disease, and the effects of climate change. Together, these factors are creating a perfect storm that makes it harder for pollinators to find food, nesting sites, and safe places to thrive.

You’ve probably heard about honeybee declines, but they’re not alone. Many native bees—like bumblebees and mason bees—are disappearing even faster. Monarch butterfly populations have plummeted by over 80% in the last two decades. And even hummingbirds are facing more pressure as their migratory paths and food sources are disrupted.

But here’s the hopeful part: your garden can help.

By planting native flowers, providing clean water, avoiding harmful pesticides, and leaving space for pollinators to nest, you’re offering safe haven in a world that’s becoming increasingly hard for them to navigate. Even a small garden bed, container garden, or pocket prairie can become part of the solution.

Pollinators need more than just nectar; they need a diverse, season-long buffet. That means including plants that bloom from early spring to late fall. It also means offering host plants for caterpillars, nesting sites for solitary bees, and avoiding blanket sprays of insecticides that do more harm than good.

Pollinators may be small, but they’re mighty—and they need us now more than ever. The more we understand their role, the better equipped we are to protect them. And the best place to start? Right in your own backyard.

To celebrate the season and pollinator week, we’re hosting a Summer Garden Party on Saturday, June 21st. This family-friendly event will feature educational booths from local vendors, a live garden Q&A, free pollinator plant giveaways, a kids’ craft station, and a series of mini workshops focused on pollinator gardening, food scaping, and rain gardens. It’s a chance to learn, connect, and get inspired to grow with purpose—all in a relaxed, festive atmosphere. Our nursery is fully stocked with a wide selection of native plants and pollinator friendly perennials to help you build your own thriving habitat at home.  Plus, from June 16th-22nd, we're offering a Buy Two, Get One Free sale on all perennials, so this is the perfect time to stock up!

Want to attract more pollinators to your space? Here's how:

• Plant in swaths. Grouping the same plant together helps pollinators zero in on their target. 

• Choose native flowers. Coneflower, milkweed, black-eyed Susan, salvia, columbine, and bee balm are tried-and-true favorites in the Midwest. Shrubs and trees such as dogwood, blueberry, cherry, plum, willow, and poplar provide pollen or nectar, or both, early in spring when food is scarce.

• Skip the pesticides. Even "natural" sprays can harm beneficial insects. If a pesticide is a must, organic methods are best and preferably used at dusk when pollinators are inactive.

• Add water. A shallow dish with stones gives bees and butterflies a place to rest and sip. 

• Don’t Clean up Dead Material in Fall or Rush Spring Cleaning. Many insects hibernate for the winter and need a place to bed down.  So, leave some natural areas in your yard and allow material from dead branches and logs to remain as nesting sites. Don’t cut down the flowers of plants like sunflowers, coneflowers, and black-eyed Susans in the fall, as their seed heads provide a valuable food source for birds in winter.